Apocalyptic Acts: Rhetoric, Ethics, Community, and Futurity
Open Access
- Author:
- Donovan, Timothy J.
- Graduate Program:
- English
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- June 26, 2006
- Committee Members:
- Richard Matthew Doyle, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Jeffrey Nealon, Committee Member
Garrett Sullivan Jr., Committee Member
Amy S Greenberg, Committee Member
Robert Lawrence Caserio Jr., Committee Member - Keywords:
- Rhetoric
Ethics
Community
and Futurity - Abstract:
- Abstract “Apocalyptic Acts: Rhetoric, Ethics, Community and Futurity” This study examines the rhetoric of apocalypse in contemporary politics, theory, and literature. By tradition, apocalyptic discourse has anticipated a catastrophic interruption that would bring forth a culminating event. The catastrophic event detailed in apocalyptic writing typically forecasts a devastating end-time that engenders ethical judgment—a conclusion that opens the possibility for a renewed sense of community and futurity. The scope of this interdisciplinary study includes a diverse group of thinkers that ranges from Kenneth Burke, Jacques Derrida, Friedrich Nietzsche and Gilles Deleuze to the literary work of William S. Burroughs. Throughout the dissertation, I engage the paradox of catastrophe as it appears in the divergent notions of apocalypse: in political matters (the Death Penalty); in contemporary philosophical thinking (Burke, Derrida, and Nietzsche); and contemporary literature (Burroughs). I believe this study contributes to the ongoing discussion between rhetoric and contemporary philosophy concerning ethics. I also foresee this project opening pedagogical opportunities to examine the challenging, paradoxical, and threatening rhetorics of fundamentalism, extremism, manifestos, and proposals for communities and futurity.